LGBT History Month & Me

Today is the first working day of February and that means we are three days in to the month. February is a very important month for it is LGBT History Month. The month we reflect over the long history of Gay and Civil Rights.To raise awareness of, and combat the prejudice against the LGBT Community.

This month for me, is the perfect time to reflect on how I have seen workplaces (that I have worked at) embrace and support their staff. I had the pleasure for two years, of sitting on the LGBT working group at my previous employer, enacting change, increasing the voice of the expanding employee network as well as ensuring ethically, the decisions we made as a business, reflect the way we want to portray ourselves as an equal opportunities employer.

Not only did I love this role, but it enabled me to understand how the lack of communication methods, the lack of upward reporting and the lack of a stronger inclusive ethos across stores prevented employees voices being heard. Through these faults we allowed for the retention of staff to decline because we were not giving them an environment where they felt respected, heard and supported to be themselves.

In my three year tenure in the group, I assisted with the role out of a national pride attendance, inviting all staff from all local stores to attend, represent their company and fell included. I personally managed both the 2017 and 2018 attendance at London Pride and as you will see below, I loved it!

Now it may seem strange to reflect on a pride event in LGBT History Month. We have a pride month. But for me this was not about pride. This was about a multi-national company getting communication right. Allowing employees to attend. Supporting them. Realising that to be an inclusive, representative employer, you cannot shy away from support. To be yourself at work, you need your company to encourage you.

A lot has changed over the centuries. A lot still needs to change. I would encourage anyone reading this to take some time to look at the below picture from the forum, which shows just some of the key milestones within LGBT history. Some events are much more recent than you may realise.

When making decisions, at work, at home, for yourself or on behalf of others, we should always consider the wider ramifications and certainly who is being represented. In everything we do, everyone should be considered, everyone should be represented. There is no excuse for prejudice in any form.

LGBT History Month, reminds me that I am lucky to work in an environment now and previously where I feel supported and encouraged to be myself. However nationally, internationally and even here at my work there is still a lot more to do because we should always be looking to improve and support our employees.